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NCAA MEN'S 2ND & 3RD ROUNDS: DAYTONMarch 24, 2013Will ClyburnFred HoibergKorie LuciousDAYTON, OHIO Ohio State – 78 THE MODERATOR: We're now being joined by the head coach of the Iowa State Cyclones, Fred Hoiberg, as well as Iowa State student‑athletes Korie Lucious and Will Clyburn.  We'll start with an opening statement by Coach Hoiberg. COACH HOIBERG: Could we go to questions, please, first. THE MODERATOR: Questions for our student‑athletes. Q. Obviously, it's got to be tough. How do you guys process a game that ended that way? KORIE LUCIOUS: It's tough. I mean, we worked all year to get to this point. Aaron Craft made a great shot at the end and put them up 3. I think we played hard all game. We fought our way back and played our hardest. I just feel bad for myself, Will, the rest of the seniors. WILL CLYBURN: We put our hearts out. It's a tough game. He made a tough shot. Sad for the season to end like this, but he made a great play. Q. For the players, when you got down 13 and it looked like the game was getting away from you guys, what changed at that point to at least force that last shot situation? WILL CLYBURN: In the huddle, we told each other we've got to dig down and get stops. If we get stops, we knew we were going to make plays on the offensive end, and we did after we got our stop. That's kind of what changed it. KORIE LUCIOUS: When we got down, there was still ten minutes left in the game, I think, so we got to the huddle, we knew we still had a lot more time. We knew what we were capable of doing. Come out and make sure we got plays on defense and make stops. That's what we did, and we forced them to the end of the game situation, and unfortunately, it didn't go our way. Q. Will, on the charge on your drive on Craft, how much of a momentum change did you think that was, and what did you think of the call? WILL CLYBURN: I really can't see where he was. I felt like it was a good play. I'm not sure if he got position or if he was there or not. I really don't have much to say about what the ref did or called. Q. This is for Korie. How much of an adjustment was it once you found out that Chris wasn't going to return for the second half? What kind of adjustments did you guys have to make? KORIE LUCIOUS: We have guys on the bench that can come in and make plays. We have confidence in our guys on the bench. Tyrus was able to start the second half. He'd been coming off the bench the whole year actually except the three games at the beginning of the season. We had confidence that Tyrus could come in and fill Chris' void. We played excellent defense when we needed it. We didn't really change anything, the way we played or anything like that. Tyrus did a great job when he came in, and we just fell short. Q. Korie, could you describe on the last play how‑‑ I think it was Georges who got isolated on Craft instead of yourself. Did they run something to make that happen, or is that the way you had it? KORIE LUCIOUS: I wasn't even really holding Aaron at the time. I was holding No.3, Shannon Scott. I was holding him at the time. But our whole defensive scheme was to switch every ball screen, and that's what we did. He isolated Georges. He made a tough shot. I mean, he hadn't hit a 3 all game. He just hit a tough shot. THE MODERATOR: Korie and Will, thank you. Questions for Coach Hoiberg. Q. Coach, that last possession, can you take us through what to‑‑ you know, the defensive mindset was there and what you were trying to do or not give up. COACH HOIBERG: We wanted to keep him out of the paint. We wanted to make him take a tough, contested jump shot. We did switch that ball screen up high. We're confident with anybody on the floor that they could move their feet and keep them out of the paint. That's where Craft was most dangerous tonight, when he was getting in there and getting shots at the rim. You've got to take your hat off to him. The kid stepped up and made a big shot. That's who he is. He's been making those his entire time at Ohio State, big shots like that, but we contested it. You live with it. I can't tell you how proud I am of our guys with the effort being up 13 with just over six left, to fight all the way back, take a lead, and have a chance to win that game. Our guys made big plays. They played unselfishly, got the ball to the right people, to the right spots on the floor. We stepped up and knocked down big shots. Hey, Ohio State is a heck of a team. They're playing with a great rhythm right now. They won nine in a row. Congratulations to them. I think they've got a long way to go in this tournament. Q. Fred, you had a big advantage in offensive rebounding at one point, and even though they went small, I think, for pretty much the last ten minutes or so, they were able to pretty much eliminate that part of your game down the stretch. How did that happen? COACH HOIBERG: We held them to three offensive rebounds. That was one of the big keys going into this game is controlling the glass. We ended up outrebounding probably a more physical team by 14. The big one, obviously, was at the end when we couldn't corral that rebound. That gave them that opportunity to set up that game‑winning play instead of us having the last opportunity, and they got the game‑winning shot. Q. Fred, you guys have had a couple‑‑ a few devastating losses this year. What did you say to your team in the locker room today? COACH HOIBERG: I told those guys I love them. It's heartbreaking for those six seniors who won't put on an Iowa State uniform again. But for what those kids did for our program, to put Iowa State basketball back on the map is an unbelievable thing. Take it from a lifelong Cyclone that has a passion for athletic programs‑‑ and, obviously, specifically basketball because of my playing days and now my coaching days‑‑ for what they've done and what they've accomplished in the two years that we had a lot of them, words can't describe it. I know how much our fans appreciate what they did and how much our coaching staff appreciates what they did. They came to work every day. They accepted their roles. They left their heart on the floor every single time that we took the court, and that's commendable for what those guys did. We took some criticism for bringing in guys. Can you make them mesh? Can they come together? The answer is, yes, they can. They did. We had a chance‑‑ you take the one game, I think we had one game against Oklahoma where we didn't play well. Other than that, I think we had a chance to win every single time we took the floor, and there's not a lot of programs that can say that. Q. Thomas had a big game for them. What was the game plan against him, and what did you think of his performance? COACH HOIBERG: He's a heck of a player. We knew he was going to be the most aggressive offensive player we played against this year. The kid makes and takes tough shots from all over the floor. He can score from the post, midrange, and from the 3. We want to make him take tough contested shots.  Obviously, losing our best defender at the half, we had to change things up. We had to play some zone. We normally don't play a ton of zone. They hit some shots at the end of the shot clock, contested a few of those guys that hadn't been shooting the ball great. But that kid's a big‑time player. There's no doubt about it. THE MODERATOR: Coach, thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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